Past and Present
by FanWriterGirl994
Summary: After Abigail Mills sacrificed herself to stop Pandora's box from exploding, the mantle of Witness was transferred to ten year old Molly Thomas. Having located her Ichabod and Jenny must teach Molly and her mother what her new role will require of both of them and protect Molly from both supernatural and human threats that seek to use her for their own evil ends.
1. Pavane pour une Infante Défunte

**I don't own anything and please bear with me as far as the new characters. The fact is we just don't know a whole lot about them just yet.**

Chapter 1: Pavane pour une Infante Défunte

 _"And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them." – Revelation 11:11_

 _"Witnesses are Immortal Souls. When one dies, someone from their extended family assumes the mantle of their responsibility…"_ Those words rung in the ears of Ichabod Crane while he sat in his friend Jenny's red SUV.

"Crane…we have to do it…" The familiar voice of Jenny Mills pulled Ichabod Crane out of the tumultuous world of his own thoughts and back to the present day.

The two were sitting in Jenny's car a few houses down from the house where Anna Thompson and her ten-year-old daughter Molly lived. It was a quiet street, peaceful. There was the occasional car that passed through but for the most part traffic was basically non-existent. It was the sort of street you would find in any reasonably safe neighborhood in America. Most of the houses were similar but not quite the same, the yards weren't particularly small or large, just average. It all seemed so normal, it was hard to believe that a newly chosen Witness meant to fight the forces of evil and stave off the End of Days was residing in such an ordinary place, utterly and completely unaware of her role in determining the fate of the world.

Crane's head rested against the passenger side window almost as though he'd dozed off but he hadn't, he'd just begun to day dream about happier times, and once again wonder how it had all come to such an abrupt and sticky end.

It was a beautiful day, the sun shown high and bright, a soft, cool breeze came from the east, it almost seemed as though all was right with the world, almost.

Crane saw the worried look in her dark brown eyes and guessed that she'd been trying to get his attention for several minutes by then.

"Ah yes, and…um…what must we do exactly…?" Crane asked, having lost track of the conversation at hand.

"Today is the day we tell Diana and Molly about who Molly really is, and what they're in for." Jenny reminded him.

"Must we? She's so young… to thrust one so innocent into a task such as this…" Crane lamented. "It does not seem fair…she's only a child…"

Ichabod and Jenny had known for a few weeks now that Molly had a destiny just as fraught with danger as their own, but so far they'd kept this a secret from the little girl and from her mother.

"I know…but what choice do we have? You said it yourself, the forces of evil are gonna start coming after her whether she knows why or not. At least if we tell Diana and Molly the truth we can teach them how to deal with it." Jenny reminded him.

"That is true." He conceded.

"You've backed out of telling them five times now. This isn't just about potentially ruining Molly's childhood is it? There's more to it than that…" Jenny guessed.

"Perhaps…" Crane admitted, his voice trailing off as his thoughts turned back to memories which although recent, seemed more and more distant to him every day.

Neither he nor Jenny had to say what each knew they were both thinking.

Months had passed since that awful day and still Ichabod could hardly believe that he had witnessed his partner, his best friend, his love, if he was truly being honest with himself, making the ultimate sacrifice for their cause. He'd been there, and still had been unable to do anything about it. Afterword it had very quickly become clear that there was, for her, no coming back from this, no hope of rescue.

 _Nothing will ever be the same._ Crane reminded himself. _She is gone, and Molly has assumed the role of Witness. Protecting her is the priority now. That is what Abbie would do if the roles were reversed, and it is what is necessary for our mission to succeed._

"We have to do it Crane. If not now than someday soon. The longer we wait the more danger she's in. Abbie and I had our childhood taken and our lives ripped apart all because we didn't understand who she was or what it meant. We have a chance here to ease that transition for Molly. I think we owe it to her to take it."

"I agree." Was his only reply.

Jenny sat there for a minute or two, watching him carefully to see if he was getting out of the car, but he didn't move. When he didn't, she sighed and looked out the driver's side window.

"Look Crane, I get it…she was your partner and friend; but she was my _sister._ Keeping Anna and Molly in the dark won't change what happened Crane. It won't bring her back." Jenny told him.

Crane didn't reply. Molly had come out of her house and could now be seen playing hacky-sack in her front yard. She was wearing blue jeans, a sky-blue and white striped T-shirt, a denim jacket, and white sneakers. She kept dropping the sack because her short dark hair kept falling in her eyes, dangling right in her view. Still she kept up her concentration, picking up the sack each and every time it fell to the ground. Each time she did this, she managed to keep the sack in the air just a little bit longer.

"Determined little thing isn't she?" Crane observed, as he watched from the passenger side window.

Jenny turned to see what Crane was seeing. "Looks like it, that's good, she'll need to be if she's gonna face what's coming…"

"Indeed, it appears that the mantle of the Witness has chosen its new home well." Crane agreed.

"So…are we just gonna sit in the car and watch her all day? Or are we finally gonna give them the heads up they deserve?" Jenny asked, repeating her earlier question.

"Soon, we will… but not today. There is quite a bit about this that Diana will most definitely want to know, that at this juncture even we do not understand… I shall pay a visit to the vault this afternoon and see if I can figure out exactly how new witnesses are chosen. Maybe if we can understand why young Miss Molly has been chosen, we will know better how to protect her against any threats which may arise." Ichabod decided.

"Yeah Ok, let's get going then…" Jenny replied, shifting her car into drive. She was excited that they'd made a decision that would actually propel them forward.

Crane responded to this by shaking his head.

"Thank you Jenny but no… I think it's best that I go alone to do this research, I'll just get out and walk… or summon a car or something…" He told her.

"Crane… We're in this together. I have no problem at all giving you a ride back to the vault." Jenny reminded him.

While the two of them had known each other, worked and fought together for some time, the fact remained that Crane had always been more Abbie's friend than hers. There were moments, especially later on, when Jenny had even sensed something more than friendship between them, though as far as she knew, neither one of them had ever admitted it to the other.

Now Abby was gone, and she and Crane were left with only each other.

"Jenny…" Crane began, but she cut him off.

"If this is gonna work, if we're really going to continue the fight against evil without Abbie, I need you to trust me Crane. I need you to trust me just as completely as you did Abbie, because you and I are all that's left. Well… us and the noobs, but, I think we can agree that they haven't quite earned that yet."

"Indeed…" Crane replied, giving her no indication which part of what she said he was agreeing with. "Tis not that I do not trust you Jenny, quite the opposite actually. I need you here to keep an eye on young miss Molly, one of us should be here in case trouble arises." He explained as he used is cellphone to request a rideshare.

"So you want me to stay here and work surveillance…" Jenny Realized.

"Above all, right now, I need to know that, that child is safe, and you Jenny, are the only one left whom I trust to ensure that. So do this for me, I implore you" He asked, an urgent, almost begging tone in his deep voice.

"Ok, you got it… but if we're gonna keep her safe, that means telling her and Anna the truth. So go do what you do and find us something we can use…" Jenny told him just as his rideshare car pulled up.

Less than an hour later, Crane was tearing through the various books, records, and documents held in the Vault, the headquarters of an organization created by Washington himself in order to track supernatural activity throughout the country.

"So, what is it you're looking for this time?" asked a familiar female voice.

Crane looked up to see Alex, a young woman with medium-length red hair who he'd noticed had a particular fondness for crafting weapons and wearing oversized flannel shirts. She stood there with her hands in the pockets of her cargo pants, eyeing him with her usual look of skepticism. Unlike her co-worker, Jake, Alex had yet to fully accept the reality of the records it was her job to maintain.

"Well… a few months ago a comrade of mine was killed in battle. Her role in our mission has now fallen to another. I am trying to glean some type of understanding of the forces which govern that process so that I may use that information when I explain to her successor exactly what has happened."

"Well alright then, I'll leave you to it… if you need anything I can actually help you with, I'll be in the other room…" she told him, before walking away.

"Thank you…" He told her before turning back to his notes.

It wasn't much longer before he started to find the answers he was looking for, but they weren't in any of the new information he'd gained access to with the recent discovering of The Vault. They were actually encoded deep within the pages of the journal which had belonged to Abby and Jenny's ancestor, Grace Dixon.

According to the Vigenère cipher hidden within the journal, each witness was a descendant of an ancient bloodline which traced back to a group of clerics from around the time of Christ. Over the millennia several different bloodlines had sprung from them, and their descendants had scattered to the four winds across the earth, each new witness had to be one of them and had to be less than fifteen years of age at the time of his or her predecessors death. There would always be two witnesses, one male and one female, like Adam and Eve.

 _Well, this is most certainly a start. Still… it may be a good idea to attempt to trace the lineage of this group and work out where and how Anna and Molly come into this. At least this explains what was meant by the new witness rising from their predecessor's extended family._ Ichabod thought to himself. He had hoped discovering why and how witnesses were chosen would stop the nagging feeling tugging at his mind, as though to tell him he was missing something.

Seeing that no one was around to hear him, he decided to speak with an old friend. "Oh who am I kidding with this charade?" he asked out loud. "Not even myself it seems… it's not the information I don't have that's bothering me, Lieutenant… it is you, your absence still haunts me. I had hoped that locating your successor would make me feel less alone. Alas it has only further confirmed the finality of your departure from this world."

Then spying a piano hidden against the wall under more stacks of articles and documents, he approached it, cleared it off, and sat down on the bench.

"I am sorry Lieutenant, I am afraid this piece is still considered 'classical'. However, being that it is early twentieth century, and therefore much closer to your era than mine… I call it a compromise…" He told her, though he had no way of knowing if Abby could hear anything he said or did at this point.

Then he began to play Ravel's Pavane pour une Infante Défunte, the title of which literally translated to 'dance with a dead princess'. He played the song with precision, yet threw into it all the grief, regret, and uncertainty that had weighed on his heart since Abbie's death. The song was slow and lamenting, with an almost mournful quality to its sound, like a final conversation between two people who were afraid to part ways.


	2. Fire Before the Doorway

**Author's Notes: This week's chapter switches perspectives a few times because I needed a couple different perspectives happening simultaneously. The switch is indicated by this symbol: ... appearing in the middle of the page.**

Chapter 2: Fire Before the Doorway

 _"I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." – Revelation 6:7-8_

Hours later, while Molly was asleep Diana sat at her kitchen table with a glass of red wine in her hand, thinking about the changes she'd seen in her daughter in the past several weeks. Although she was thrilled that it was over, she was still concerned and bewildered by Molly's period of sudden silence which had ended just as suddenly as it had begun. She'd been assured over and over again that there was nothing wrong with Molly, but if that was actually true then it meant that there was no explanation for her suddenly passing out and not talking for two weeks.

That was something that Diana was not good with, things that couldn't be explained. In her mind everything should be able to be explained. Although she'd recently been confronted with the truth of things she used to believe couldn't possibly be real. So perhaps there really were things in this world that she'd never understand. Still, with no explanation, every time she left for work, or woke up in the morning, she feared that Molly would be mute again the next time she saw her. So far it hadn't happened, but still, there was something different about her daughter. Molly was talking again but she was quieter, more subdued than she had once been, and even she didn't seem to understand why.

There was also something about the way all the weirdness that had happened lately had seemed to begin with Molly's going silent. Diana could feel that there was some sort of connection there, she just didn't know what it was yet.

The house was quiet, everything seemed normal, the silence was only broken by the sounds of rain and thunder outside; but still, something told her it wasn't. Something deep inside of her was making her feel uneasy.

 _Maybe another demon is already on the move…_ She thought to herself. She sighed. _Great, I now live in a world where demons and witches are reasonable assumptions when things go bump in the night…_

…

Meanwhile, Crane and Jenny were in Jenny's trailer. Jenny was asleep on the padded bench that served as her couch by day and bed by night, having had to abandon her stakeout when the storm moved in. Crane was sitting at the small, pull out kitchen table at one end of the trailer, combing through genealogical records he'd retrieved from the local library on his way home from the vault, trying to trace the witness bloodline to the point at which the three that he knew of, himself, Abbie, and Molly intersected. This was proving easier said than done, wherever the three bloodlines came together had to be somewhere deep in their ancestry.

Suddenly Ichabod found himself pulled into a vision. He was back in archives' building that had been his main base of operations in Sleepy Hollow. _What am I doing here?_ He thought.

Then Molly came to stand in front of him, wearing the same white nightgown he'd seen her wearing in the vision that had revealed her to him.

"Greetings Miss Molly…" he said, bowing before her like a gentleman of his era should.

"Hello Ichabod Crane…" she said.

"You know who I am…?" he asked. He'd seen her, and heard about her from her mother, she'd even said 'hello' to him once; but they'd never been properly introduced.

The little girl nodded.

Suddenly another voice, one infinitely more familiar rang through the chamber.

"Crane…" The voice said, it sounded far off and hollow, as though it were an echo. Ichabod could barely hear it over the deafening rain and thunder of the storm raging outside.

"Abbie?!" Crane asked.

"Crane…" the voice said again.

"Where are you?" He replied, but Abbie, or rather her voice didn't answer him directly.

"Death rides! The horseman is alive, he's coming to try to destroy the next witness." She told him. "You have to protect her Crane…"

Then all at once Crane got the sense that there was one less presence in the room and in the same instant, Molly began to scream.

…

Across town at the Thomas house, Molly woke up in her room, terrified and confused. For a moment, she couldn't breathe. One minute she'd been in a strange, room with plaster walls, a round, domed roof, that was filled with books, having a conversation with Ichabod Crane and someone who didn't seem to actually be there… the next she'd seen a headless soldier carrying an ax, riding a white horse with glowing red eyes. It was at that point that she'd woken up to find herself back in her room.

She'd been having dreams like this for months, how was that possible? How could she dream about somebody long before meeting them?

Molly peered carefully around the room. Everything seemed normal, but she didn't _feel_ like everything was normal.

She couldn't explain why, but she had the feeling that there was some kind of danger lurking somewhere out in the rain. So she got up, got her school backpack and threw an extra set of clothes, her sketchbook and her pencil case inside, just in case she had to leave in a hurry. She didn't know when, why, or why she even thought it was a possibility, she just knew that she might have to and soon.

…

Back in the trailer, Jenny awoke to Ichabod shaking her and calling her name.

"Jenny…Jenny wake up…" He called.

She opened her eyes and slowly rose to a sitting position.

"Crane…what is it? What time is it?" she asked.

"'Tis half passed midnight and my apologies for waking you but I've just had another vision, a warning… the Horseman of Death is not only alive, but here… in DC, and he's after Molly…"

At that, Jenny sprang up and pulled out a large silver briefcase out from under the storage bin underneath the bench, handed it to Crane and grabbed a large tan duffle bag out of the tall narrow cabinmate beside it. She grabbed her coat, wallet, and car keys.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go…" she said, already heading out to her car.

"I just pray we aren't too late…" Crane replied as he followed her out.

…

Dianna as still sitting in the kitchen, doing paperwork, when all of a sudden she saw it out the window. A headless soldier wearing some kind of old military uniform and carrying a giant ax. The edge of its blade was glowing an orange-red color as though it had just been removed from a blacksmith's fire. She could see the steam it created as rain fell against the hot part of the blade.

She was so shocked by this that she almost fell out of the chair she was sitting on, then after a few seconds it finally registered.

 _Oh my God, if I can see it this clearly in whether like this that_ thing _must be right outside that window… Molly… I have to get Molly out of here…_

She ran upstairs to her daughter's room. Molly opened her eyes and sat up immediately at the sound of her door opening.

"Mom?" she asked. "What is it?"

"Molly…Baby… get up, we have to get out of here. I'll explain once we're safe but we have to go…" She told her daughter.

Molly nodded, swiftly got out of bed, grabbed her backpack and put on shoes.

Diana led her daughter down the stairs and out the back door on the ground floor of their home. The two of them ran out into the rain. They headed down the street behind their neighbor's houses hoping they'd given the horseman the slip, but it wasn't long before Diana saw it coming at them, holding its massive broadax in high in the air.

…

Jenny drove toward Diana's house as fast as she possibly could. They arrived at their destination within five minutes, but when they got there, they could already hear the high pitched sound of a horse's whinny nearby, over the near deafening sound of the rain, followed by the piercing high pitched scream of a terrified young girl.

Crane ran in the direction of the horseman and saw Diana and Molly running away from it. They were still out of range of the horseman's broadax but he was gaining on them, fast.

Crane knew he had to act quickly. He aimed his tower tea service pistol and shot the horse the horseman was riding. The animal reared up in fear and shock, nearly bucking its headless rider.

"Agent Thomas! Molly! Run! This way, quickly!" He shouted.

Molly was the first to follow his directions, turning and running toward him as fast as her legs would carry her, closely followed by her mother.

"What is that thing?" Diana asked.

"There's no time to explain, we have to go." He told her as he led them back to Jenny's SUV.

Once they reached it, Molly hopped in the back seat and scooted over to make room for her Mother. Crane reclaimed his place in the front passenger seat.

The instant the last door was closed, Jenny shifted the car back into drive and slammed her foot on the gas pedal.

In the backseat, Diana's mind raced, wondering what on earth had just happened. Next to her, Molly just sat absolutely still, with her hands pressed into the seat on either side. While not exactly at ease, she was less bothered by what had just happened than her mother seemed to be. She knew somehow that this was exactly the event she'd sensed coming. It all felt…somehow familiar… and though she couldn't explain why, something about simply being near Mr. Crane made her feel safe.

"Crane…where do you think we should go?" Jenny asked. "Decide fast so I know which way I'm going."

"I believe our safest bet at this juncture would be the Vault, there are protective runes in the tunnels beneath the city that surround the building. The horseman shouldn't be able to follow us there…" He told her.

"Makes sense, but at this time of night we'll probably have to access it through the tunnels…" Jenny replied, making a hard left at the next turn she came to and barreling toward the street that gave them the tunnel entrance nearest the vault.

The entrance was an archway underneath a bridge that at first glance appeared to be completely sealed off by the same stone and mortar the bridge itself was made from. However, there were ancient runes on one side denoting a magical lock. Ichabod and Jenny got out to open it, leaving Diana and Molly in the car.

Crane touched his palms to the top two runes and translated their meaning into English. "Poi, make sacred. Sa, protect against evil.

Jenny then toughed her palm to the pair of runes at the bottom of the row and did the same thing. "Der, unlock the way. Ri do, for our journey."

At their words each rune began to glow a fiery orange and the portion of the wall that sealed the entrance temporarily disappeared. Knowing that the entrance would only stay open for a very short time once they let go of the wall, Jenny and Ichabod ran back to the car and Jenny drove into the tunnel.

Once inside, they parked and they and the Thomas's got out of the car.

"Where are we Mom?" Molly asked.

"Somewhere where _that thing_ can't find us." She assured her. Then she turned to Ichabod for confirmation. "Right Crane?" she asked.

"Correct, the Horseman shant be able to reach us here… nevertheless, we should keep moving, the safest place is the Vault itself. While the wards in here should keep the headless blaggard at bay, the Vault is far better protected." He explained.

"We can walk the rest of the way, let's go…" Jenny added, then started down the long dark tunnel toward the building known as the vault.

Diana and Molly followed her and Ichabod waited and brought up the rear.


	3. Pompeii

***SORRY THAT THIS ONE IS SO LATE, WHEN LIFE RAINS, IT POURS***

Chapter 3: Pompeii

Once the group was safely inside the Vault they closed the hidden door that led to the tunnel entrance.

Diane was pacing nervously, trying once again to get her bearings in this new supernatural world to which she'd only recently been introduced, trying to make sense of what had just happened to her and her daughter.

"Ok… first off… I can't even begin to thank you two enough for saving our lives from _that thing._ " Diana began. "But what exactly is it, and why did it come after us…?" she asked. "I know you guys know something, you showed up almost like you were expecting this…"

Ichabod nodded. "Agent Thomas, there is indeed much to discuss. There are things about myself, and what Miss Jenny and I are doing here which we have not yet shared with you. Before we get into this, I ask that you please understand that our intention was not to keep this information from you. We were simply looking for the right way and the right time." Ichabod began.

She didn't look too happy about that. For a minute or two she just stood there with her arms folded across her chest, staring at Ichabod as though he'd been outright lying to her since the day they met, but she nodded.

"Well at this point, just assume I'm ready for anything… shoot." She told him.

"Well, for starters, I am not of this time."

"Wait…what do you mean you're not of this time?" she asked.

"I was born in 1751, I was an officer in General Washington's Colonial Army…" Ichabod began but Diana interrupted him.

"Wait… the horseman was wearing the uniform of an eighteenth century British soldier. That's not a coincidence is it?" she asked.

"No. The horseman and I first met on the battlefield in 1781. I was gravely injured but I did manage to cut off his head before I lost consciousness. Events transpired that saw him…and me… slumber underground for, a little over two hundred years. Then, three years ago, a demon… one far more powerful than the one you and I defeated the day we met, raised him to ride as one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. I and my partner, Lieutenant Grace Abigale Mills, who was also Miss Jenny's sister, served as the two Witnesses, whose sworn duty was, and remains to protect humanity from all manner of supernatural threats and stave off the End of Days so that humanity can endure for as long as possible." Ichabod replied.

"Ok that explains how you're connected to him Crane but what _is he,_ and more importantly what does he want with my daughter?" she asked, turning her head toward Molly, who seemed to be waiting for them to finish their conversation, occupying herself by checking out the books, documents, and artifacts within the Vault. She had her back to them but they could all sense her listening.

"The horseman is Death incarnate. A single minded blaggard who seeks to reap a reign of terror and destruction the likes of which mankind has never before faced. It was Abbie's and my great misfortune to battle him many times. With Abbie gone, a new witness has inherited her legacy. Miss Jenny and I have sought that person since we learned of their existence, and ever since Abbie's death it is more than likely that our enemies have as well." Crane explained. He'd been dreading this conversation. So far it was going fairly well, but this was now the part where he dropped the bombshell he'd been holding back all this time.

"That still doesn't explain what any of this has to do with Molly." Diana insisted, though if she was being honest with herself, a part of her understood where Crane was going with this.

Ichabod took a deep breath and wished more than anything else in that moment that what he was about to say, wasn't true. "Actually Agent Thomas… it very well might. We have reason to believe that Molly is the new Witness we've been searching for."

"Th-that's not possible…" Diana insisted. "How could… she's not even eleven years old!" She shouted.

"Mom, calm down." Molly shouted back, now fully engaged in listening to the conversation. "I think they're right. I mean… I only understand some of what you guys are talking about, but…"

"But what…?" Diana asked. "What is it Molly?"

Molly took off her backpack, reached in, got her sketchbook, and handed it to her mother.

When Diana looked inside, she found numerous drawings of Ichabod Crane, and one of the Horseman they had seen earlier that night. All but the most recent was dated before Molly ever met Crane, even before, as far as she was aware, he'd even been in the city.

"I didn't see those things like I normally do, it was more like they came to me in a dream. I've been having strange dreams for weeks now, ever since I passed out, and they always seem to have Mr. Crane in them." She explained when she saw her mother's shocked expression.

While listening to her daughter, Diana had absentmindedly handed the sketchbook to Crane, who was now looking through it.

"My God…these are…" he began.

"What?" Diana asked sharply.

"What is it Crane?" Jenny asked.

"These drawings… it's as though several of them were drawn from Abbie's perspective. Look…" he said, showing them one that had a long haired version of himself looking up at someone who wasn't in the frame. "This one is from when Abbie and I first met." He told them. Then he turned to a picture Molly had drawn of the horseman. "And here is when the horseman slew her mentor…" Then he turned to a third picture, this one was a forest with four white trees. "This one here, was Abbie's first encounter with supernatural forces." He replied.

"Ok, yeah I…admit that, that is really freaky; but there's still no way it means what you guys think it means…" Diana insisted.

"Doesn't it? Face it Diana, Molly is the next witness. The evidence is right here in front of you, how could it be any clearer?" Jenny asked.

"Ok, considering that you guys have saved my life twice now I thought I owed it to you to hear you out but now I think you guys are both out of your minds…" she replied. Then she turned to her daughter. "Come on Molly, let's go home."

"Mom…"

"Agent Thomas, Miss Jenny and I recognize that there is much to which we are asking you to adjust; but at the very least you must admit that the Horseman, whom you saw with your own eyes is still at large, and believe me, it is Molly he is after." Crane told her. "She will not be safe outside the wards that protect this place until the sun rises. Sunlight, is one of the Horseman's only weaknesses." Crane explained. "I know you mean to protect her. That is our goal as well, and the best way to do that, at this present moment, is for all of us to remain here where our current enemy cannot reach us." Ichabod told her. He spoke slowly, calmly, but firmly.

 _Diana must understand this… I must make her understand this…_ Ichabod thought to himself.

"Mom, they're right… we can't go back out there where that thing is…" Molly pleaded with her mother.

"Sweetheart, I will protect you, we will do this ourselves, together, you and me the way it's always been…" She replied.

From the tone in Diana's voice, it was obvious that she was desperate to believe her own words. She didn't want her daughter to be the Witness, she didn't want there to be any supernatural forces at work, and she didn't want to believe that the Horseman was more than she could handle.

"How Mom? That _thing_ was gigantic! It had no head! It's not normal!

Sensing that Diana was still about to run and probably take Molly with her, Ichabod and Jenny moved into position to block the entrance.

"What are you two doing?" Diana asked.

"Keeping you both safe." Ichabod replied calmly.


End file.
